Recently, consumers of video content have benefited from a variety of technologies that improve the recording and viewing of video streams. Digital video recorders (DVRs) allow for the recording and playing back of video. Many DVRs also allow a user to concurrently store a video program as it is being broadcast while playing back a previously recorded program to the user. DVRs may also provide for so called “trick play” features, such as being able to pause and rewind a television broadcast in progress.
Whether a given video program is being watched as it is being broadcast or played back well after the program has been recorded, DVRs generally allow a viewer to rewind the program to replay a previous portion of the program. That is, relative to the current playback point in the program, the user may request that the DVR seek an earlier point in the program and begin playback starting at the earlier point.
While rewinding, the DVR will typically show images representing the current point in the rewind so that the user can visually seek to a point in the program. Some DVRs allow the user to choose the rate of the rewind operation. For example, a user that wants to rewind to a scene that was shown a relatively short period ago may rewind using the “normal” rewind rate. However, if the user desires to rewind to a location closer to the beginning of the program, the user may rewind using the “double” or “triple” rewind rates, if available. In either of these cases, however, the rewind operation provided by the DVR may be performed linearly such that a point further back in the broadcast takes proportionally longer to rewind to that point.